So Much For The Ultimate Lifeform
by Lucy Labrador
Summary: TWO-SHOT - Shadow is visited by a creature from another timeline. His instincts tell him to run, but his sense of duty tells him to fight. Now with Bonus Mephiles chapter.
1. Chapter 1

**So Much for the Ultimate Life Form**

Shadow stared at the being in front of him. He refused to take his strong glare away from it. Sweat fell from Shadow's brow and he grit his teeth. The fur on the back of his neck raised and the spikes on his back stiffened. The fists at his sides tightened and he held them out in front of them and spread his legs, easing his stance, ready to pounce.

Snake green eyes with a thin, lifeless pupils stared back at him. Where's Shadow's eyes were widened and pointed in concentration, this creature's expression was relaxed and his gaze nonchalant. It was as though he didn't feel threatened.

Shadow did.

The look of this creature told him that something was wrong. This creature, looked just like him. An exact copy, apart from the colours. Dark grey where Shadow was a strong jet black, and a faded turquoise grey markings on his quills where Shadow was red.

He'd introduced himself as Mephiles, to which Shadow's survival instincts set in. It was as if his very being told him to fight or run like his life depended on it. But Shadow had never met nor heard of this 'Mephiles' creature before. He didn't know why he felt this way… he just did. And the feeling was so strong, like his very soul, if he had one, cried out to him.

Those two options, though. Run or fight? There was no choice. Shadow knew that his only option was to fight. The environment that surrounded him was his metal prison. The Space Colony ARK. Every step that he took made a metallic clink, which reminded him of his duty and where he was bound.

"That Eclipse Cannon, Shadow," Mephiles spoke and tilted his head. "An accident waiting to happen, surely."

"It would be no _accident_ ," Shadow said through gritted teeth. Shadow felt his blood boil inside of him. That's why he couldn't run. It was his duty to protect the earth below, so to run from this threat would to risk the safety of all of those below. Shadow couldn't risk it.

"Of course, I understand that the Eclipse Cannon needs all seven Chaos Emeralds to destroy the planet below." Mephiles' eyes lit up in amusement at the prospect. The more Shadow was bothered, the more Mephiles' face showed satisfaction.

"Which you don't have." Shadow lifted his head up confidently.

"Yet."

Shadow forced a smirk and shook his head.

Mephiles raised an eye ridge back at him.

"Confident."

"I am The Ultimate Lifeform," Shadow boasted.

"Yes, so 'ultimate' that you hide away from humanity. You won't even reside on the same planet as them."

"I'm protecting them," Shadow spat.

"From a distance."

Shadow grit his teeth again. He scoffed and narrowed his eyes at Mephiles.

"Who are you?"

"I told you. I am Mephiles-"

"No. WHO ARE YOU to think that you can antagonise me? My sole purpose is to protect that planet." Shadow pointed behind him with his left arm.

Mephiles leapt forward and grabbed Shadow by the throat with his right hand. Shadow snarled and snatched at Mephiles with his left hand. Mephiles' grip tightened around Shadow's throat. Shadow struck Mephiles again, this time, hard. The creature flew to the side of the room and hit the wall.

As Mephiles pushed himself to the floor, Shadow turned around to look out of the wide observatory window at the large blue planet below. It gave him strength and courage to fight. He swung around to face Mephiles, and stepped back to see that the creature was right in front of him. In the split second Shadow turned around, Mephiles had reached him.

"Be careful, hedgehog. One small mistake and you'll pay for it dearly," Mephiles said and reached out to grab him. Shadow caught Mephiles' hand, and then the other. The two of them were locked, staring at each other.

"How long can you keep this up?" Mephiles taunted. Shadow narrowed his eyes. "I can go on forever. Can you?"

Mephiles yanked his hand away from Shadow's and punched him in the stomach. Shadow grunted and stumbled back. Mephiles reached out to hit Shadow again, but Shadow swung his hand and threw a chaos spear. It struck Mephiles and pushed him back.

"Don't try me, Mephiles." Shadow's position become defensive again.

Mephiles chuckled darkly. He thrusted his arm forward.

Shadow grunted. His eyes widened. He stiffened all over. It hurt to move. He looked down. A beam of light ended at his abdomen. Shadow coughed. Blood splattered onto his white furry chest and onto the floor. It was thick and neon green. A reminder of his Black Arms heritage.

Mephiles pulled his arm back. Shadow stumbled forward as the light vanished. He grasped his abdomen and gasped a shallow breath. He glanced down at his torso. Unharmed on the outside.

"I missed the heart," Mephiles said.

Shadow looked at him with wide, horrified eyes. Mephiles pulled his arm back again. Shadow winced and dodged to the side. He stumbled and fell to the floor. He struck the floor. It hurt his stomach. It hurt everything. The white hot pain burned through him. It burned through his soul.

"Keep still. I'm not finished." Mephiles walked toward Shadow slowly. Shadow kept one hand on his abdomen, squeezing it tight to suppress the pain, and crawled across the floor with his free arm. Mephiles stopped behind Shadow and stepped onto his ankle. Shadow gasped. Mephiles pressed down, hard. Shadow bit back a yelp. Mephiles twisted his foot, grinding it into the skin and bone of Shadow's leg.

Shadow winced. A small whine escaped from his throat.

"How long can you last, hedgehog?" Mephiles asked. "Just say the word and I'll end your suffering." He pushed down harder and Shadow's ankle cracked at the force.

Shadow shook his head whilst he bit back a scream of pain.

Mephiles stared down at Shadow. The creature's eyes glowed with lust. A lust for suffering.

"Do you know who I am? _What_ I am?" Mephiles boasted. Shadow stared at the floor and stayed silent. Mephiles glowered down at him.

"I came into the terrible existence through human experiments," Mephiles said. "They tried to meddle with power that they could not control."

Shadow felt weak. His arms shook and he collapsed under his own weight. His face rested on the floor. He felt tired. His body wanted to give up. Shadow didn't, though.

"That's what you're doing right now, Mephiles. You're trying to keep down a power you can't control!" Shadow growled.

"Wrong. I was split from my counterpart. We can never reunite." Mephiles lifted his arm, a spear formed in it. "I was robbed of my unity. Of my divinity!" Mephiles threw the spear down at Shadow's crushed leg.

Shadow screamed in agony. His lower leg was torn from the knee. Hot tears stained his cheeks.

Mephiles stomped on Shadow's other ankle.

"It was your fault!" Mephiles said and slashed Shadow's other leg with a spear. Shadow was too drained to scream. He was disoriented. It was hard for him to make sense of anything.

"I'm sorry."

"You don't even know what happened!" Mephiles said. He stomped on Shadow's back. Shadow spluttered a mouthful of blood onto the floor. His vision become blurry.

"Your counterpart, from MY timeline, tried to erase me from existence. But here I am!" Mephiles yelled. "I will torment EVERY one of his counterparts until HE feels it. The pain will reach him! It will!"

Shadow let in a short gasp of breath. He remembered how he felt when Mephiles showed up. The fear he felt, was the fear from his other counterparts. All of their experiences fed onto him and told him to fled.

"How many…?" Shadow rasped. "... how many will you have to kill before you stop?"

"I will not stop until I am satisfied," Mephiles said. "You are one of millions." Mephiles pressed down on Shadow's back, hard. Shadow choked, the pressure of his chest crushed his lungs, so he couldn't breathe. A sharp pain shot through his ribs. He heard a crack inside of him.

"I am the closest thing to a god that you will ever have the fortune to meet!" Mephiles boasted. "You were so confident to stand up to me. Your mission to protect the planet, Shadow. You have failed."

Shadow laid and listened to Mephiles' words.

"No."

Shadow spoke. Mephiles tilted his head.

"I'm not dead yet."

Mephiles narrowed his eyes at down at Shadow. He pulled his foot off of Shadow's back and stepped back. Shadow's voice was clear, determined. Not weak and quiet like before. Shadow shakily held his arms forward and grasped at his right wrist with his left hand. He pulled the inhibitor ring off.

Mephiles scoffed.

Shadow twisted the other ring off. His last one.

Mephiles looked down at the ankles which were torn from Shadow's body. Shadow's body glowed a bright red.

"Release that energy now…" Mephiles warned, pointing down at him. He walked around Shadow and to stand in front of him. "... release it now and you could destroy this whole ARK."

"And take you with it."

"And risk your planet."

"And destroy the risk to the planet. The Eclipse Cannon, you. Everything."

Mephiles threw a large sphere to his side, it opened a portal.

"Don't run. You coward," Shadow growled from the floor, his body began glowing a deeper, brighter red. The power was consuming him from the inside.

"All of this power… and it's just going to kill you," Mephiles said as he walked towards the portal.

"NO!" Shadow yelled as Mephiles jumped through it.

Mephiles appeared on the surface of Earth on a large stretch of empty land. He looked up to see a bright flash in the sky.

"So much for the Ultimate Life Form."


	2. Chapter 2

Mephiles stood over the dead body of another Shadow alternate. But instead of feeling delight, Mephiles sighed. He was growing tired of messing with Shadows from infinite timelines. He was running out of ideas. He'd jumped in to surprise Shadow at all points in his life. From his birth, from his release from prison island, from the moments he'd saved the world.

Mephiles had meddled with timelines in so many ways. Changing the past created more timelines with new scenarios. The possibilities were infinite. But Mephiles' imagination wasn't, not while he was bored. Mephiles felt as though he was suffering from some form of artist's block; the suffering he caused was art to him, and his inspiration for doing the same thing over and over again was draining. Mephiles needed to do something new.

Who else did he hate? Who else had caused him to suffer in his original timeline?

Mephiles wiped the green blood from his arms and looked down at the corpse of the mutilated Shadow alternate. He wondered if the original was feeling it yet. Would he ever feel it? And would Mephiles ever know for sure one day?

Mephiles lifted his arm up and looked at the sickly green blood that was drying on his claws and arms, then down at the pained expression that the hedgehog had died with. Mephiles used to shiver in delight in this stuff. But this time, he had just sighed. Why? The blood used to be the paint to his art, and the expressions and screams were the beautiful details to his masterpieces. But he needed something new. He needed a new colour of paint and a different face to watch contort in agony.

So who else was there?

Mephiles' eyes flashed mischievously. He'd thought of an obvious candidate for his torture.

"The Duke of Soleanna," Mephiles said to himself. "Shadow was the one who trapped me in that cursed sceptre, but it is the Duke who split me from my counterpart in the first place. If it wasn't for him, I would just be a content flame, bringing hope to my kingdom."

Mephiles' attachment to the one who'd given him his form had made him forget about all of the other possibilities. Now that he remembered, Mephiles' muzzle curled in delight and his brows furrowed as he thought of all of the horrible things he could do.

"Revenge."

Mephiles kicked the limp hedgehog as if he was just an old toy that he was bored with. Then he turned and formed a sphere to jump through. Mephiles ran and jumped through it.

He knew exactly where to go and when to go.

Mephiles landed in the great castle of Solenna.

The corridors were dim and eerily quiet. Mephiles looked straight ahead at the glowing doorway at the end. It was large, wood and open ajar. Mephiles walked towards it. The slow steps echoed through the stoned chamber.

Mephiles stopped when he heard the Duke's voice echoing quietly from the room ahead. The deity stopped. He couldn't help it. That voice; it caused an unknown feeling in him. Fear? Hatred? What was it? He just couldn't bring himself to go further.

His senses homed in on the sound of his voice and picked up some of the words.

"... Solaris… experiment… soon."

Mephiles stormed forward. Now he was angry. He reached the door, thrusted it open and rushed inside. He saw a human standing by the duke, meaningless to him. Mephiles swiped his arm and threw a spear at him. The tall, uniformed man dropped dead instantly.

The Duke of Soleanna was standing in the middle of the room, looking at the other man. He stared at the dead body for a moment, then turned quickly to look at Mephiles. Mephiles stared at back at him.

"What are…?"

Mephiles just snarled and held out his hand, forming a small crackling sphere of energy in it. He looked at the Duke menacingly as he lifted his arm, ready to aim and fire.

"Solaris?"

"MEPHILES!"

Mephiles threw the sphere. It narrowly missed the Duke and hit the wall behind. It left a large scorch mark on the bare stone. The Duke looked behind him and swiftly faced Mephiles again.

"I-It worked!" he exclaimed.

Mephiles glared at him. Now he felt it. The hatred.

"That's all you care about," Mephiles growled. The Duke stepped back as Mephiles slowly approached him. But the human could only go as far as the wall at the back of the room stood. Mephiles lifted up his hand and flexed his fingers, as though he were brandishing a knife. The Duke shifted to the right, towards his bed.

"I know of your ability to travel through time. I anticipated this," the Duke said.

"Did you anticipate splitting me from my other half?" Mephiles asked. "Of stripping me of my divinity!?"

Mephiles swiped at the Duke's side. His claws ripped through the monarch's white and orange robes and tore through his skin. The Duke bent over his bed, heaving in pain. It was shock for the old man.

Mephiles tilted his head and watched the frail human gasp in panic. It was as if he'd given up already. Compared to Shadow's hard attempts to look strong, this man seemed pathetic.

"This is no fun," Mephiles said. He formed another sphere in his hand and glared at the Duke.

Suddenly, the man swiped something from under his pillow and turned to face Mephiles. Mephiles froze. The Duke held out the Scepter of Darkness in front of him.

Mephiles leapt backwards and stared at the relic with wide eyes.

"I anticipated this and came prepared!"

Mephiles pointed an accusing finger and snarled at the Duke.

"You don't even have the ability!"

"I have a chaos emerald."

Mephiles suddenly swiped a spear at the Duke. It sliced right through the Sceptre and the monarch's throat.

"You can't hurt me with that cursed object! I've grown stronger!" Mephiles yelled. But it was pointless. The Duke wasn't conscious to hear it. His large body slumped to the floor and a pool of blood formed by his sliced throat.

Mephiles stood, still tense, still on edge. If he had fur, it would have puffed out. Mephiles shivered and fell to his knees, realising the danger was gone.

"I'm safe now…" he sighed. "He can't hurt me. Or my alternate."

Mephiles closed his eyes and put his hands on the floor. His shoulders slumped and his ears drooped with sadness. He looked to the door, thinking of the flame of Solaris that burned somewhere else in the castle.

"I wish someone could have done the same for me."


End file.
